You could say that Juliana Mitchell is down on her luck and
that would be a huge understatement. The Indian school where
she taught has been shut down and the kids are being
shuttled off to various institutions where they surely will
not flourish as they had under her tutelage and love. In a
last effort of defiance she takes four children with her
hoping that she will receive the train fare from her brother
to allow her to take them to their families or keep them
with her until they can be adopted. Her brother's wire
basically tells her that her worst fears have come true, she
is homeless and moneyless. She truly needs someone to save
her -- in short she needs a miracle. What better time of the
year for miracles but Christmas. Then she meets Lincoln
Creed, a widower who has been placing ads for a homemaker, a
governess or if necessary a wife to help him with his six
year old daughter. So far there have been no takers. So when
he meets Juliana in the mercantile and realizes there would
be few if any townspeople willing to take in the teacher and
her Indian charges he bundles up the bunch of them in his
wagon to take them home to his ranch. But once there he
quickly realizes that she truly has nowhere to go and
seemingly no one to turn to for help. And to make matters
worse -- or at least more complicated -- his very precocious
daughter Gracie is true to her nature stating clearly how
happy she would be to have Juliana as her teacher but even
better as her new mother. It becomes quite evident that
Juliana and her charges aren't the only ones that need
saving. Both Lincoln and Gracie need a special woman in
their lives. Could Juliana be that special woman? Would she
settle for what he is able to give her and give up her dream
for a real marriage? Stillwater Springs Ranch could be the
answer to her dreams and who knows what other Christmas
miracles were still to come.
This is the prelude to Miller's stories about the Creed
family. She brings us back to the early 1900's to the
perhaps second generation of Creed's who have somewhat
dispersed in the west and yet some have remained to run the
family ranch. These are the ancestors of the characters in
her Creed books and give us some insight into the characters
we meet in the related stories. As in any Miller book the
characters are human and as such quirky and of course
likeable. Good choice for any Miller fan and for followers
of the Creed's. Enjoy.
In the unforgiving wilderness of 1910, widowed rancher
Lincoln Creed is up against more than rustlers, wolves and
the coming winter storms. His young daughter has needs
beyond the beans and bacon he can barely cook. Lincoln must
find little Gracie a governess, a lady who can teach and
cook-and yet won't set her sights on him.
Disowned for her refusal to marry, twenty-five-year-old
Juliana Mitchell shares the love in her heart with her young
students at the underfunded Indian school. When she meets
Lincoln and Gracie, her response to the handsome rancher
makes her realize she's not against marriage after all.
The season of miracles just might find a way for Juliana,
the children, Lincoln and Gracie to help each other.
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